About 1.3 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) operations in Ghana over the past 20 years, a new UN data released July 22, 2013 has revealed. The report also indicates that medical doctors and nurses are engaged in the practice just as traditionalists.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 4% of Ghanaian women and girls have undergone FGM during the period.

The UN agency made these known in a new report titled “Female genital mutilation/cutting: a statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change”. The report focused on 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the practice is believed to be most common.

Of those who have undergone FGM in Ghana, the data indicated that 13% support the practice, and 2% of the total female Ghanaian population also favour the practice.

The practice, according to UNICEF, is more popular in the Upper West Region. The agency added that 60% of women aged between 45 to 49 years have undergone FGM in the country while 16% of girls aged 15 to 19 have experienced the practice.

Doctors, nurses and other health workers were listed in the report as persons that perform 1.2% of the FGM procedures while traditional practitioners accounted for 89%.

The data showed that about 93% of the Ghanaian population wants the FGM practice to be stopped.

According to the report, 30 million girls across the surveyed countries are at risk of being cut over the next decade.